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# massage

«massage» in Mova's school dictionary: **rubbing and pressing someone's body with your hands to…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 1 sentence of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

noun (a massage, massages); verb (massage, massages, massaged, massaging)

### meaning for a pupil

1) A massage is rubbing and pressing someone's body with your hands to relax the muscles or ease pain. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/massage/#m1)

2) To massage someone is to give them a massage. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/massage/#m2)

3) (informal, negative) To massage numbers or facts is to change them a little dishonestly to look better. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/massage/#m3)

### sense in the lessons

In everyday life people massage sore shoulders or feet; physiotherapists massage injured muscles in sport. In health lessons a gentle massage can help a tight muscle. In news and maths, «massaged figures» means numbers that were twisted to look good. Phrases: give a massage, foot massage, massage therapist, massage the figures.

### examples

- Mum gave me a foot massage after the long walk. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/massage/#x1)
- The physio massaged the footballer's leg. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/massage/#x2)
- A massage can help tight muscles relax. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/massage/#x3)
- She massaged cream into her hands. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/massage/#x4)
- The boss massaged the figures to hide the loss. (informal) [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/massage/#x5)
- The massage lasted 30 minutes and cost £25. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/massage/#x6)
- Dad massaged his sore neck. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/massage/#x7)

### note

Say it MASS-ahzh (UK) or muh-SAHZH (US). Do not confuse with «message» (a note) — they look alike. Countable noun and regular verb.

### In the corpora

- ["Massaging the numbers" means changing data so it looks better than it really is.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/29-lying-and-drinking/15/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «massage» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/massage/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.